


Ink and Flowers

by granttus



Series: Bokuaka oneshots [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Artists, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Minor Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24747109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/granttus/pseuds/granttus
Summary: Bokuto is a tattoo artist and Akaashi is his client. Featuring Kuroo doing god’s work and Kenma endorsing it
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Series: Bokuaka oneshots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782163
Comments: 8
Kudos: 126





	1. Ink

**Author's Note:**

> This was too long and I had to split it into 2 chapters hahah :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of something that told me how single I am in 4 languages :’)

The sound of pencil scratching on paper was the only noise surrounding, save for the obnoxious rattling of the air conditioner and the occasional creaking as Kenma leaned back on his chair in the back room. 

Bokuto’s tongue caught between his lips and he leaned back, examining the doodle, before leaning back against the counter and fixing again.

The front door opened and the little bell jingled to alert them of a new arrival. 

“Fear not my friends,” Kuroo announced. “Your savior has arrived.”

Bokuto barely looked up from his intense concentration. “‘Bout time, Kubro.”

“Oh shut your trap, Bendy,” Kuroo sneered, dropping the bag of their lunches on the counter and throwing a meatball sandwich at him, landing it right under his nose. “The ink machine isn’t running right now.”

“Hm, that’s strange,” Kenma said, clicking away on his phone and using his tongue to play with his lip piercing as he focused. “It was never turned on in the first place.”

“You shut your mouth too,” Kuroo said, pointing at the blonde and tossing a sandwich at him, landing perfectly in his lap and effectively making him lose focus. “Eat your food or else I’ll eat you.”

“Patience is a virtue,” Kenma said, slowly unwrapping the sandwich and nibbling at it. His eyes never left the screen. “You obviously don't have any.”

“So cruel,” Kuroo sarcastically pouted, then looked over at his co-artist, resting his chin on his shoulder. “Whatcha doin’? Your attention span is that of a fish, what’s so interesting?”

Bokuto hardly acknowledged him, fully absorbed in this sketch. “New design I thought of,” he said, wiping away the eraser shavings. He tapped the pencil on his bottom lip. It was the beginning of a very intricate masterpiece of an owl hidden beneath a bed of sunflowers, with its eyes and some feathers peeking through a gap in the flowers. The petals of the flowers slowly dispersed to nothing as if the wind had carried them away. “It’s not done.”

“I think it looks fantastic,” Kuroo said, shrugging and walking to eat his lunch. 

“I’m missing something,” Bokuto whined, leaning back on the counter. 

“You’ll figu’ it out,” Kuroo said through a massive bite of food. “You alwa’s do.”

“Eloquence is not your virtue either.”

“Will ‘ou s’op it, ‘enma!” Kuroo yelled with his mouth full.

—

“We’ve got a walk-in coming in,” Kuroo called out, putting the phone down after hanging up. “I call dibs.”

“Come on, you always get the walk-ins!” Bokuto cried, reorganizing his station. Kuroo stuck his tongue out at Bokuto, knowing it would only antagonize him into returning it.

“Stop, you’re literally 4 years old,” Kenma groaned. 

“Oh how you wound me, Kenma,” Kuroo said sarcastically, holding his heart just as the bell to the door jingled, letting them know that their walk-in arrived. Kuroo, however, did not care. “I’ll stop when I get this idiot to shut his trap!” he said, pointing at his silver-haired coworker. 

Bokuto pulled his eyelid with his middle finger and stuck his tongue out. “Just try it!”

“Excuse me?”

Both the bickering tattoo artists stopped and turned. 

“You the walk-in?” Kuroo asked, leaning against the front desk. Bokuto stared at the guy standing at the counter. He was...beautiful to say the least. His eyes were dark and intense and Bokuto felt his chest clench when their eyes met. He felt like a glass door, like he suddenly knew everything about him just by glancing at him. His dark hair framed his face in a messy, beach-curls sort of way that was completely endearing to Bokuto. Bokuto clenched his jaw and shook his thoughts away. Client, client, client! He’s a client!

The guy nodded and Kuroo grinned, sticking his tongue out at Bokuto again who narrowed his eyes.

“You,” he pointed at Kuroo threateningly. “You stop that.”

“What are you gonna do, ‘Bo-chan’?” Kuroo said, mocking their last customer.

“I will deface your precious selfie with Kenma,” he said. 

Kuroo gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

Bokuto grinned. “I would.” They had a face off for a few seconds before Bokuto took off running to the back room.

Kuroo chased after him. “Hey! Get back here you piece of—!”

Kenma watched them and sighed, putting his phone away and taking Kuroo’s place at the front desk. “I’m sorry about them,” he said, “They’re incredible artists, they're just childish. Name?”

“Akaashi Keiji,” He replied, his eyes over the blonde’s shoulder, watching the two in the backroom wrestle over a small photograph.

“And what would you like done?”

“Oh,” he said, jerking his gaze away and pulling a little napkin doodle out of his pocket. “Just something like this.”

The blonde nodded, taking the doodle. “Let me go wrangle one of the artists, excuse me.” And he disappeared into the backroom.

Kenma snatched the picture out of Bokuto’s hand and stuffed it in his pocket. Without saying a word, he grabbed Kuroo’s apron and dragged him to the front of the store and left him there to sit back down on his chair.

A grin spread across the dark haired artist’s face. “I’m Kuroo, I’ll be tattooing you today,” he grinned, jamming his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll get this printed for ya and we’ll get right to it, yeah?”

Akaashi couldn’t help but think ‘are all tattoo shops like this?’

After a few minutes, Kuroo had the design edited, printed and transferred into purple ink on Akaashi’s forearm. 

“Ever had a tattoo before?” Akaashi shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt, just feels like scratching a sunburn. You’ll get used to it.”

From behind Kuroo, the other artist emerged from the backroom, humming to the music and cleaning his station. He wore a black t-shirt that showed off a full sleeve of tattoos up his right arm and the tattoos down his neck that disappeared under the collar of his shirt. He had small gauges and a septum ring too. His hair was spiked up and dyed silver with streaks of black. Somehow, Akaashi couldn’t imagine him with any other hairstyle than that. 

Akaashi looked away but found himself admiring his back again. His shoulders were broad and the ratio of shoulders to waist was enough to make Akaashi weak. His sleeves were tight against his muscles, so much so he almost felt bad for the poor seams.

As much as Akaashi hated to admit, he admired his ass a few times too. He couldn't help it, the rest of him was so…Akaashi shook himself mentally. Akaashi forced himself to look away at the scenery around. The man was working and Akaashi didn’t have the time in his life for another person. 

After about 15 minutes, Kuroo grinned when he caught Akaashi’s eyes gazing over his shoulder as his coworker for the third time. “Hey Bo,” he called, drawing the silver haired artist’s gaze like a puppy standing to attention. “Come ‘ere a sec’.” The man bounded over happily, humming some song and leaning over Kuroo’s shoulder. “Can you take over? My hand’s cramping real bad, I don’t wanna mess up the lettering.”

“Sure!” He said cheerily, sitting and pulling gloves on before taking the gun from Kuroo’s hands. Internally, Bokuto was rolling on the floor screaming ‘Kuroo don’t do this to me!’ “Haven’t I told you to stretch your wrists more? You’re so careless.”

“Not my fault I got bad muscles,” Kuroo said, disappearing into the back room. Kenma held up a fist and Kuroo bumped it as he passed. Bokuto couldn’t help but glare at them. Of course Kenma caught Bokuto staring. They conspired against him! The betrayal!

Beside him, Akaashi’s mind was a whirlwind of ‘oh fuck…’ and ‘did I do something? He didn’t seem like his hand was cramped, did he see me staring? What if he did?! What if he knows?! Does he even know I was staring at him?! Oh god what have I gotten myself into…’

“Hey, hey, hey! Sorry for the sudden change of vibe,” the new man beamed. “I’m Bokuto Koutarou, pleased to be inking you.”

“Akaashi Keiji,” Akaashi said. Bokuto grinned, pulling Akaashi’s arm with a gloved hand closer to him on the stand. He was pretty, like...really pretty. Way prettier up close, he was almost scared to touch him. His eyes were the first thing Bokuto met, sharp and observant but dark and thoughtful. Bokuto felt nervous sitting next to him, which felt strange considering he’d never felt like that next to a customer. God why did Kuroo leave him on his own like this... 

Bokuto realized he was staring off into space for a little bit and shook himself out of it, before looking at what he was tattooing. It was only three or four inches long across his arm just below the fold of his elbow on his forearm. A sprig of lavender and a small butterfly. The words below read ‘I’d never ask you to change’ in oddly neat handwriting but not nearly neat enough to be typed. He had a sneaking suspicion that this was handwritten by someone that meant a lot to him.

Bokuto smiled when he saw it. “Cute,” he said, before his brain caught up with what he just said. “I-I mean it’s nice! I like the simplicity and the-the words are cute—“

“Thank you,” Akaashi said, cutting him off. 

Bokuto’s grin slowly returned before he nodded, “I-it’s cute, I like it…” Akaashi felt his ears burn but he refused to let a reaction show on his face. Bokuto caught sight of Kuroo at the desk who shook his head at him, mouthing ‘smooth, bro.’ Bokuto shot a look at him.

“My grandmother’s favorite flower was lavender,” he said, as if he had to justify himself. Like Bokuto had room to judge, the dude tattooing him was covered in tattoos from his right wrist to his neck, complete with 11 millimeter gauges and a nose piercing. Bokuto didn't say anything and started the tattoo gun up, feeling the familiar buzz in his hand. “She loved watching little cabbage whites fly around the butterfly bush.”

“Oh! That’s so cute!” 

Akaashi felt his blush burn a little more. The more he said ‘cute’ the more Akaashi wanted to melt into the seat, but he smiled anyway. “That was her response when I opened up about an important part of my life to her. I just stitched together letters from various cards to make the sentence.”

“I get the feeling she’s passed on?” 

Akaashi nodded, looking out the window as he started tattooing. It took everything Akaashi had to not study his face, so he focused on the surroundings of the room. There were shelves of materials and tools on top of picture frames, and there were quite a few plants around. Pasted on one of the walls were lots of oddly cryptic doodles on receipt paper, definitely the work of the two artists. There was no way the other artists that worked there were behind a drawing of Mike Wazowski with extremely buff arms and legs with the words ‘snitches don't get bitches so shut you traps’ under it.

Aside from the cryptic drawings, there was soft music playing. It was very different from what Akaashi would have thought they would listen to, especially given their appearances. Bokuto was humming to the song next to him gently, it was a pleasant sound to soothe the dull pain in his arm from the tattoo gun. The gentle music was suddenly paused and was switched to a far more familiar song with a popular tune. Bokuto stopped and looked up at Kuroo who had a shit eating grin on his face, pointing at Bokuto. 

“You know what to do, Bendy,” he said.

Bokuto laughed excitedly, looking back down at his work. Akaashi glanced between them confused at what he was about to experience.

“Put the gun down, it’s sing-along time!” Kuroo said, snatching the phone away from the guy in the back room and dragging him to the front. “Come on, Kenma, it’s more entertaining this way.”

Bokuto didn’t put the gun down, but his face settled into a smile which seemed to be his default setting. It didn’t bother Akaashi, his smile was rather contagious. 

Kuroo kicked his feet up on the counter as the other guy leaned against the wall, eyeing his phone in Kuroo’s pocket. “His favorite Disney song is Kiss The Girl from the Little Mermaid and he will sing it every time.”

Akaashi glanced over at the artist and showed hints of a smile when Bokuto started singing it. He did not lose focus on the tattoo at the same time. He sang with his head down and his eyes downcast, as if hiding his face from Akaashi. His voice slowly faded to a soft hum as his concentration took over. 

“I can't hear you, Kou!” Kuroo teased, fully enjoying the torment of his artist friend. 

“Sha la la la la la la la, my oh my, look like the boy’s too shy!” Bokuto suddenly yelled, throwing his head back as he lifted the gun off Akaashi’s skin, causing Akaashi to jump. Kuroo cackled like a hyena and Kenma snorted as Bokuto continued the chorus at that obnoxious volume, pointing annoyingly at Kuroo as if to say ‘you asked for this.’ “Go on and KISS THE GIRL!”

Kuroo paused his cackling to add in the ‘woah, woah’ before Bokuto’s obnoxiously loud singing continued. Kuroo fell back into laughter, nearly falling off his chair and the blonde behind the counter chuckled a little at Kuroo. 

The loud volume continued until the song was over and their usual calm, gentle music returned. Bokuto did an exaggerated bow as Kuroo and Kenma clapped.

Bokuto laughed with a dorky smile on his face and a light color in his cheeks. Akaashi wouldn’t say his voice was bad, his voice would definitely sound very nice if he had been trying. Despite that, he quite enjoyed the performance. It was amusing to say the least. After that whole performance, he suddenly felt comfortable with the three. It felt like he was just hanging out with friends, especially with Bokuto. This was definitely different from what he’d ever imagine a tattoo shop being like, let alone the artists. He expected alternative music at least, maybe intense stares from the artists at least. Maybe this was what tattoo shops were like and Akaashi was stereotyping...

Akaashi studied the tattoos all over Bokuto’s body, namely the ones on his right arm uncovered by his shirt. His eyes landed on one of a volleyball and a jersey that said the number four. 

“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said. Bokuto’s gaze snapped up at the honorific, his heart nearly in his throat. So polite… “Did you play volleyball?”

Bokuto blinked before nodding furiously and a somehow brighter smile. Akaashi didn’t think that was possible. “Still do!”

“Really?”

“Yup!” He said, refilling the black ink in the gun. “I play for the Black Jackals, working here was just a job I picked up to fill the gap between high school and tryouts for the Jackals. I liked working here as an intern, and was eventually offered a tattooing position and decided to take it. There’s enough tattooers here to cover for me when I go for practice and away games and the shop is only open from 12pm to 4pm, so it’s not like I miss a ton of work,” he rambled, obviously enjoying talking about both work and volleyball. Akaashi was familiar with the Black Jackals, as one of his friends was on the team as well. He never expected to run into one of Hinata’s teammates in a tattoo shop. “Sometimes people will recognize me from recent games but most of the time the people coming in aren’t volleyball fanatics.”

“Did you play in high school?”

He scoffed. “Of course I did!” He said, jabbing a thumb at Kuroo. “Both Kuroo and Kenma did too. They were on a different team from me, but we played against each other a lot.”

“That’s interesting,” he replied thoughtfully. 

“What about you?”

“I played in high school,” Akaashi said, drawing the artist’s gaze again. “I never continued my volleyball career, but I do still enjoy it.”

“That’s cool!” He said with a grin. “What do you do now?”

“I’m a storyboard artist for a film studio,” he replied. “Not a very well known one, but it’s fun. I enjoy it.”

“So you’re an artist too? That’s awesome!” He cried, way louder than necessary. The corners of Akaashi’s mouth tipped up slightly at his enthusiasm and they fell into silence for the next half hour. 

“All done!” Bokuto finally said, putting a clear plastic sticker over the tattoo and patting it proudly. “Uncover that in 2 to 3 days and apply ointment to it constantly to keep it from getting dry and itchy. Some of the ink will flake off, but don’t worry! That’s normal!”

“Thank you,” Akaashi said, looking at the black ink on his arm. He smiled looking at it, remembering his grandmother. 

“Come back if you want a touch up,” he grinned brightly. “Or if you want another!”


	2. Flowers

Three days later, Akaashi had removed the plastic sticker from the tattoo and was constantly applying a tattoo balm that his friend, Sugawara Koushi had given him. 

“Good morning Akaashi,” Suga smiled.

“Good morning, Sugawara-san,” Akaashi replied. 

“Let me see it,” Sugawara said, holding out his hand. Akaashi knew he wanted to see his tattoo, so he held out his arm. “Oh! This is so well done!”

“Is it?” Akaashi asked. He knew Sugawara had a few small tattoos himself, he was the one who convinced Akaashi to get the one.

“Definitely,” Suga nodded, knowingly. “The line weight is perfect for this design and the lettering is so steady,” he grinned and slapped Akaashi on the back. “You found yourself a very good artist, Akaashi-kun.”

“It was at the shop right by the Karasuno coffee shop.”

Sugawara tilted his head. “I’ve been there but I’ve never seen them use a style like that. Who was your artist?”

“His name was Bokuto Koutarou,” Akaashi replied. 

Sugawara nearly spluttered his tea everywhere before slamming the cup down. “You mean Bokuto, plays-for-the-Black-Jackals-with-Hinata, Bokuto?!”

“That’s the one.”

“He’s an artist?!”

“He said he picked up the intern job to fill the gap between high school and the jackals and he said he just never left.”

Suga flopped down onto the seat. “I just thought he was a tattoo-aholic,” he laughed, then looked up at Akaashi. “What’s he like? Is he just as enthusiastic off the court?”

“He was very nice,” Akaashi recounted. “He was very enthusiastic and all smiles. He was comfortable to sit next to for an hour and a half and talked a lot, but it wasn’t unpleasant.”

“Sounds about what I’d expect,” Suga said, leaning against his desk.

“Oh, apparently he has an obsession with Kiss The Girl from the Little Mermaid and has the obligation to sing it every time it plays. The other artist, Kuroo, decided it was a good idea to play it,” Akaashi said, placing his bag on his desk across the hall from Suga’s. A very minute smile was drawn to Akaashi’s face at the memory. “It was...entertaining to say the least.”

“Sounds like you had fun.” A slow smile donned Sugawara’s face. One that drew a suspicious glance from Akaashi, but the older editor turned back around and they began their work. Suga put his earbuds in, humming quietly to himself. 

A few hours of silence passed before Suga sighed. “Akaashi, would you mind running to the Karasuno and getting me a coffee?”

“Yeah,” Akaashi said, closing his laptop and standing. He took the money Sugawara held up over his head. They did this frequently, Suga would ask Akaashi to take both their breaks to walk down to the shop they both enjoyed and get them both caffeine. Sometimes Akaashi would drop by before work, and other times Sugawara’s intern, Kageyama, would join Akaashi, but he was away for a volleyball camp for a few days.

“Get yourself something, too,” Suga said, waving. “Thank you!”

—

When Akaashi entered the coffee shop, there weren’t a lot of people there and he noticed the bright eyes of his favorite red-headed barista behind the counter. 

The boy leapt for joy when he saw Akaashi. “Akaashi-san!” Hinata cried, “The regular for you and Suga-san?”

“Of course,” Akaashi smiled, putting a few dollars in the tip jar. The boy was enthusiastic as ever, bouncing all over as he made the coffees. 

He glanced to his right and found a familiar face sitting at a table, chewing on his pencil. It took a few milliseconds for him to weigh his options of approaching him. 

Akaashi walked over, peering over his shoulder at the drawing. He didn’t even notice Akaashi. 

“That’s incredible, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi finally said, causing the man to jump.

“A-Akaashi!” He said, holding a hand over his chest. “You scared me!”

“Sorry,” he said, still eyeing the drawing. “A new design?”

Bokuto nodded, tapping the pencil on his bottom lip again. “It’s been a week since I started,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s missing something but I can’t figure out what.”

Akaashi looked down at it and agreed. There was something it was missing. “Maybe the stems?” He asked. 

Bokuto blinked at him, pursing his lips as he looked at it before taking out his phone and snapping a picture of it.

“Draw what you mean,” he said, handing his phone over. Akaashi blinked and took the phone. The drawing was pulled up in a drawing app so the actual drawing wasn’t ruined, which was kind of genius, Akaashi had to admit. 

Akaashi used the screen to poorly draw what he meant, adding a border around the image, scribbling out the bottom of the flower stems and creating a polaroid effect to crop closer to the eyes. Then, a bunch of the flower’s stems and adding the owl’s talons around a group of the stems so it seemed like the owl was holding the flowers up. He held the phone up, pointing to the stems. “This way the owl isn’t floating in space and it’s more obvious that the flowers aren’t just the heads of the flowers. The eyes of the owl are the center of focus now.”

Bokuto gasped, leaping up and nearly flipping the table. “That’s it!”

“Bokuto-san, please don’t flip the table.”

“You’re amazing, Akaashi!” Bokuto cried, beaming at the dark haired artist. Akaashi felt his cheeks burn and mumbled something about how it was just an idea. Bokuto was already erasing and adding what Akaashi suggested, obviously tweaking it a little. 

Akaashi found himself mesmerized with the way Bokuto’s fingers moved the pencil. He held it closer to the paper than other people did, and used his wrist and arm more than his fingers. He constantly rotated the pencil after every few lines, rather than just adjusting his grip. When he was thinking, he’d flip the pencil around his thumb and chew on the hard plastic bit.

“Here, Akaashi-san!” Hinata said, pulling Akaashi’s gaze by coming over from behind the counter and handing him two drinks. “Daichi-san says hi.”

Akaashi smiled at the boy and took the drinks. “Thank you, Shouyo-kun.”

“Bokuto-san?” Hinata asked, peering over his shoulder. “How do you know Akaashi-san?”

Bokuto looked up at the red head, struggling to process what he had said. Clearly his focus should solely be on one thing at a time. 

“Bokuto-san gave me a tattoo,” Akaashi said for him, rolling up his sleeve to show them the ink.

Hinata gasped loudly. “I want one!” He cried, to which Daichi yelled for him to keep his voice down from the other side of the cafe.

“Oh,” Bokuto said, closing his sketchbook and leaning on the table. “How’s it holding up? Need a touch-up or anything?”

Akaashi shook his head. “It started flaking but my friend lent me a balm he uses.”

Bokuto nodded, feeling a little disappointed in a way. Did he secretly want Akaashi to come back to the shop? Yes. Was he going to say that out loud? Absolutely not. 

“Akaashi-san!” Hinata cried. “You should come watch us practice tonight! I’m practicing a new technique and it’s gonna be awesome!”

“Yeah, sure.” He didn’t have anything to do after work. 

Bokuto grinned. “You'll get to see how awesome I am, Akaashi!”

“I can’t wait,” Akaashi smiled as Bokuto ripped off a page of his sketchbook and scribbled his phone number on it.

“Let me know when you get there!” He said as Hinata let loose a victory cheer and returned to his position. 

—

Bokuto caught a towel that was thrown at him by Atsumu and he grinned, bounding over to where Akaashi was sitting on the bench. 

“Did you see my super cool cross towards the end, Akaashi?!” He asked, sitting next to the dark haired man and wiping the sweat off his neck.

Akaashi nodded. “I did, it was great.”

He laughed, leaning back against the wall. “My straights are stronger today but my crosses are getting better.” 

Akaashi grinned but didn’t say anything. They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the others practice hits and receives. Finally, after a little while, Bokuto broke it.

“Hey, Akaashi,” he said, drawing Akaashi’s attention. “I...I really like you.” The man had a deep blush on his face and he avoided eye contact by keeping his eyes downcast and his fingers nervously played with the hem of his towel. “It hasn’t been long or anything but...I-I’m really attracted to you. I like how I feel around you and stuff. So, if—“

“Me too,” Akaashi said, cutting off his rambling before it could start. “I like you too, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto looked at him before smiling relieved. “Really?”

Akaashi nodded, then smiled. “Let’s get to know each other better before we make any decisions.”

“Okay!” Bokuto cried, suddenly hyped up with new energy. “I’m gonna go back to practice but we should go eat afterwards!”

—

It had been a week since they decided to get to know each other and if Akaashi was being honest, he decided he knew enough about Bokuto to make his decision. Bokuto was an open book, but what was holding him back was how little Bokuto knew about him. 

He glanced over at the artist across from him. Bokuto’s tongue flicked out and pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. His eyebrows furrowed a little bit but his eyes were wide and vigilant as he focused. It was kind of endearing to watch. 

Once he leaned back to examine his work, he glanced up at Akaashi. “What?”

“Nothing,” he replied, looking away to take a sip of his coffee. “Your face when you concentrate is cute.”

A blush formed across his face. “Ahh, Akaaaaashiii!” He whined, covering his face with his hands. “Don’t say stuff like that!”

Akaashi smiled, feeling his chest tighten around his heart but he didn’t say anything after that. Yeah, he definitely made his decision.

—

A month passed since they admitted to being attracted to each other and Bokuto was realizing how easy it was to read Akaashi especially after finally seeing his unhindered expressions. 

He met Akaashi outside his work, leaning against the bike rack on his phone. Just in the past month Akaashi had opened up a lot to him, and looking back at pictures from a month ago versus now, Bokuto could see an obvious difference in his expressions. Before he was reserved and his smiles were small, as if he were hiding his feelings. Now they were soft and genuine. Bokuto had seen his genuine smile, and he could definitely tell the difference between real and fake. 

“Hello Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said. 

Bokuto grinned when he looked up. Akaashi’s sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his bag was slung over his shoulder. He looked tired, but he was happy. 

“Tired?” Akaashi nodded, rubbing his eyes. Cute was definitely an understatement. He fell into step with Akaashi with their shoulders brushing. “My place is closer, we can just have instant ramen for dinner and watch Chopped and pretend we know better than them.” Bokuto slipped his fingers into Akaashi’s hand. 

Akaashi closed his fingers around Bokuto’s and hummed, content with the contact. He nodded. “That sounds fun.”

Bokuto laughed, tightening his grip on Akaashi’s hand. His heart was pounding and his chest was tight. It had been a month and Bokuto’s decision didn’t change. 

They walked in silence to Bokuto’s apartment. Bokuto kicked his shoes off messily while Akaashi took his off and placed them down. He took Bokuto’s shoes and put them next to his. It was a subtle gesture but one that made Bokuto irrationally happy. 

“Ready to judge professional chefs while we eat instant ramen?” He asked. Akaashi laughed lightly and nodded. “Awesome! I’ll go make the ramen, you turn on the show,” he called over his shoulder as he headed into the kitchen. “I’ll be done in 10.”

Akaashi smiled after him and turned into the living room, finding the remote on the coffee table and turning the television on to find the channel was already selected, and the show was just starting. Akaashi had been in Bokuto’s apartment once before, when he was invited to dinner for Kenma’s birthday. Kenma seemed appreciative of the display of care from his friends, though most of the time was spent on his phone. He still smiled more than usual, and even allowed Kuroo to cuddle with him publicly (granted “publicly” was just in front of Bokuto and Akaashi).

Akaashi looked around the room, actually studying it this time. There was a shelf dedicated to volleyball, a picture of his high school team and his high school jersey folded neatly beside it. A volleyball with, what Akaashi assumed was, all his teammates' names written on it. Akaashi had to smile at the sentiment. 

On the wall above the shelf was a picture of his new teammates. Bokuto sat in front holding up a peace sign with an arm over Hinata’s shoulder. Hinata sat beside him with a bright grin. Sakusa and Atsumu were behind them. On Atsumu’s left stood Oriver and Tomas, and to Sakusa’s right was Inuaki and Meian. 

There was a section of wall nearby, entirely dedicated to Kuroo and Kenma, and other friends he had. Akaashi included.

Akaashi bit his lip as he studied every picture. Every picture was printed and meticulously placed on his wall in a certain way, like the pictures of his friends deserved to be taken care of even if they didn’t have frames. He couldn’t help but think that Bokuto really did have an endless amount of love to give, and it made him feel kind of weak. The man was so cool, and thousands people were awed by him and he takes the time out of his day to collect and print the pictures he enjoys of his friends. Akaashi couldn’t hold back his smile no matter how hard he tried. Not to mention how his chest ached and his heart beat was in his throat.

Akaashi made his way into the kitchen, smiling when he heard Bokuto humming “Kiss The Girl.” His hands found Bokuto’s waist and he hugged him from behind. On one hand he was worried that this wasn’t the right decision but on the other...he couldn’t give a shit. He wanted Bokuto to himself...he wanted to be selfish just this once.

“Akaashi? You okay?”

Akaashi smiled with his mouth against his shoulder. “Bokuto-san can...we make it official?”

Bokuto paused and turned to face Akaashi. He bit his lip to reel in his smile as his fingers held Akaashi’s waist. “Y-Yeah.”

Akaashi smiled gently and pulled his face down, kissing him softly. Bokuto responded to it immediately. His heartbeat was in his throat and his face felt hot, but everything that felt wrong seemed to fall into place in that moment. Akaashi sighed into the kiss, tilting his head down to get Bokuto to lean down more. They broke apart, his forehead resting on Akaashi’s.

When Bokuto opened his eyes, he smiled and his face was still red. He felt like his brain was short circuiting, but he didn’t care. Akaashi had kissed him, of course he was going to be a mess. “Been waiting for that…”

Akaashi laughed, cupping his face in both his hands and kissing him again, just as soft and sweet as the first time. “Me too.”

—

Bokuto let a deep breath out slowly as sweat dripped down his nose. His jersey was soaked with sweat and his towel was hung around his neck. He’d already finished his water, so he was just focusing on cooling down.

He heard footsteps from behind him and he used his towel to dry the sweat off his face.

“Congratulations, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto’s head turned towards Akaashi’s voice so fast he was scared he’d get whiplash. He grinned wide, jumping up and running to him, hugging him excitedly and pressing a dramatic kiss to his temple. It’d been 2 years since they admitted attraction to each other, which was a long time but for Bokuto it only felt like a month. He still felt like they had just started dating. The giddy feeling never went away, neither did his excitement to see him. “Akaashi!”

Akaashi laughed, “Hello, Bokuto-san,” he said, as Bokuto pulled away. 

“You made it!”

“Of course,” Akaashi replied, still smiling as his eye caught the new tattoo on his left arm. It was new, still had the covering on it, but he had never told Akaashi he was getting it. “I wouldn’t pass up seeing your awesome cross hits for anything.”

He beamed, letting his arms stay around Akaashi’s waist. His boyfriend had work that day and he still managed to come see him play. It made him feel warm inside, almost weak. Akaashi met his eyes and smiled gently.

“Oh, I brought some onigiri for you,” Akaashi said, holding up a bag. 

“Akaaashiii…” Bokuto cried, burying his face in Akaashi’s shoulder. “You’re so good to me.”

As they ate together outside the stadium, Bokuto hummed happily through his food. His fingers were laced with his boyfriend’s and the sleeves of his jersey were rolled onto his shoulders. Akaashi’s eyes were drawn to his new tattoo, still covered by the plastic. 

“You changed the tattoo?”

Bokuto glanced over to see which one he was talking about and nodded. Instead of the original sunflowers, it was now fluffier flowers with one flower different from the rest in the foreground, as if it were more important. Instead of the stems Akaashi had added, there was a frame around the tattoo, as if it were a polaroid on his arm. A gentle blush bloomed across Bokuto’s face as he scratched the back of his neck. “They’re carnations. And the one is a cornflower.”

“Do they mean something specific?”

His blush deepened a little. “In folklore, men would wear cornflowers if they were in love.”

Akaashi nodded thoughtfully. “Cute,” he said gently, but his mind was screaming. Wearing a cornflower forever meant...

“Carnations mean love and admiration,” he continued, coughing into his arm to avoid eye contact. Akaashi didn’t miss the red in his face and ears, and he felt it creeping down his neck himself. 

It felt like he confessed to him in the only way he knew how. Akaashi couldn't get that thought out of his head. Bokuto’s tattoo was written proof that Bokuto had so much to give and nothing to do with it. Akaashi felt his chest swell. God, he felt lucky to be on the receiving end of it.

“Bokuto-san,” he said, lacing their fingers. His boyfriend’s gaze snapped up to him. “I love you too.”

Bokuto bit his lip, his eyes wide. A bright smile spread across his face and he pulled Akaashi’s hand towards him, wrapping him in a hug burying his face in his shoulder. 

—

“All done,” Kuroo said, patting his forearm. “It’s crazy that the last time you were in this specific chair was almost 4 years ago.”

Akaashi smiled, sitting up. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Kuroo nodded, then snorted and leaned on the table. “Mind if I ask why you got that?”

Akaashi grinned and shook his head. “Where’s Bokuto-san? I want to show him first.”

“Bokuto!” Kuroo cried, calling his coworker who whined from the backroom. “Your boyfriend’s here!”

Bokuto’s head popped out of the backroom and Akaashi smiled, holding out his arms for his boyfriend to come to him. The smile that graced his face was brighter than usual and he ran over, slamming into Akaashi and nearly knocking him to the ground. Bokuto looked up at him with a smile and sparkling eyes that filled Akaashi with nothing but love for the dork in his arms. 

“Akaashi! Why are you here?”

He held out his arm for Bokuto to look down at the small cornflower on his forearm, under the first tattoo he got.

Bokuto looked back up, meeting Akaashi’s eyes with his own. He looked like he might cry. “Keiji…”

Akaashi smiled, passing a hand over his hair. Akaashi waited until now to get it, though it had been on his mind since Bokuto got his. He waited because if they ever broke up, Bokuto’s tattoo would still mean something. The man was so full of love for everything around him that even if it meant he wasn’t in love with Akaashi anymore, he’d still be in love with volleyball, with tattooing, with whoever came next. For Akaashi, he didn’t have that much love to spare.

So he waited until he knew that Bokuto was who he wanted to be with forever. Of course Bokuto knew he loved him without the tattoo, but Akaashi had wanted this since Bokuto had told him what it meant. 

Akaashi smiled. “I love you, Koutarou,” he said softly. 

Bokuto pulled Akaashi into a hug and lifted him off his feet to kiss excitedly. Akaashi laughed against his lips, holding his shoulders to stay balanced. “I love you too, Keiji!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHARACTER DESIGNS
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/CBfDzmTH2p0/?igshid=ir2hqr44jukg  
> OR  
> https://twitter.com/i_pask/status/1273650434360651777?s=21


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